SUITLAND, Md. Sixty years after a wartime move from downtown Washington, D.C., to this working-class suburb just east of the capital, the U.S. Census Bureau is breaking ground for a two-building, 1.5 million-square-foot headquarters complex.

     "We look at the construction of these buildings as an investment, but not just a capital investment. It is an investment in our employees and in the quality of the great work that they do on behalf of America," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon.

     Federal, state and local officials were scheduled to participate in the groundbreaking at the Suitland Federal Center on Tuesday morning, Sept. 16.

     Phase one of construction will begin next month, and consists of 770,760 sq. ft. of office space with 1,592 parking spaces. The first phase of the project will be completed in spring 2006, with employees scheduled to move into the first building by September 2006. Phase two of construction will include an additional 729,722 sq. ft. and have 1,506 parking spaces. Construction will begin in September 2004, with the building set for occupation by March 2007.

     Total project cost is estimated at $331 million. The team of Skanska USA Building, Inc. and HKS were selected by the General Services Administration to design and build the complex.

     The complex will feature two eight-story, curvilinear office buildings, connected by a large glass atrium that makes them appear to be one. The sleek buildings are designed to accommodate the 6,000 Census employees who are currently spread among several buildings in Suitland and nearby locations.

     The new Census Bureau headquarters will have a cafeteria for 630 diners, including outside seating; a smaller cafe with a limited menu for use when the cafeteria is closed; a 500-seat auditorium and four conference rooms that can be configured to accommodate groups of various sizes; a modern fitness center; a state-of-the-art health center; and a library.

     Existing Federal Office Buildings 3 and 4 will be demolished. The current headquarters at Suitland Federal Center, a three-story, yellow-brick, World War II-era edifice with seven wings, was constructed for the now defunct Office of Price Administration (OPA). When the OPA balked at being so far from Washington, the Census Bureau agreed to move from its Washington, D.C., offices, then at Virginia Ave. between 2nd and 3rd streets, to Suitland, which was mostly farmland, in 1942-43.

     Suitland House, once a private residence and later converted to offices by the Census Bureau, is on the National Register of Historic Places and may become a museum highlighting the Census Bureau's contributions to statistical methodology and technology.

     Other new construction in the Suitland complex includes a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building, which will be occupied in March 2005, and a recently opened day-care center for children of federal employees.